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HALFWAY BROOK 



IN HISTORY 



By 



JAMES AUSTIN HOLDEN, A. B 



ly 



4B0CS& 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON MARKING 
HISTORICAL SPOTS. 



To the Members of the New York State Historical Association: 

At a meeting of tlie Committee on Marking Historical Spots, held Sep- 
tember Qth. 1004, Dr. Williams was made Chairman and Mr. Holden Secre- 
tary of the Committee. After discussion of the matter, it was voted to 
mark during 1905, or as soon as possible thereafter, the following spots of 
the greates.t historical interest, viz., "Half-Way Brook, including Fort Am- 
herst," "Bloody Pond." "the Burgoyne Headquarters at Sandy Hill," and 
the "Old Fort at Fort Edward." Judge Ingalsbe was made a committee 
on the old "Burgoyne House," Mr. Wing a comimittee on old "Fort Edward," 
and the matter of providing suitable inscriptions for Half-Way Brook" 
and "Bloody Pond" was left to Dr. Williams and Mr. Holden with power. 

A site for the marker at Half-Way Brook 'having been decided on at 
the intersection of Glen Street and Glenwood Avenue, on the road to Lake 
George, a glacial bowlder as a base for the tablet was placed in position 
there through the kindness and generosity of Henry Crandall, Glens Falls. 
A legal title to the spot was obtained, and the tablet ordered from W. J. 
Scales, Glens Falls. In October, 1905, the tablet was erected. It consists 
of a dull, natural finish plate of bronze, and bears the following inscription" 

HALF-WAY BROOK. 

So called because midway between Forts Edward and 
William Henry. From 1755 to 1780 it was the scene of many 
bloody skirmishes, surprises and ambushes. Here the French 
and Indians inflicted two horrible massacres upon the English 
and Colonials. One in the summer of 1756 and the other in 
July, 1758. 

I^ORT AMHERST. 

A noted military post, was midway between this marker and 
the brickyard. Its site was known locally as "The Garrison 
Grounds." The location was used as a fortified camp in 1757-58. 
Theiiort was erected in 1759. It was occupied by the forces of 
Baron Riedesel in the Burgoyne Campaign of 1777. It was 
burned in 1780 in the Carleton Raid at the time of the "Northern 
Invasion." 



THE SEVEN MILE POST. 

Was a block house with a stockaded enclosure which occu- 
pied the rise of ground north of the brook and west of the road, 
near the residence of W. H. Parker, from 175; to Revolutionary 
times. During that period it was one of the most important 
halting places in north America. 

— Erected 1905 By — 

NEW YORK STATE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 

In this connection it is only proper to add to thi? report that a tablet 
for Bloody Pond is under way and will be erected during the coming year. 
The expense of providing for these tablets was taken care of by the fol- 
lowing subscriptions : 

The Co ntributors to the Fund for Marking Historic Spots : 

Henry Crandall, F. B. Richards, 

William McEchron, B. B. Fowder, 

Jonathan Coolidge, M. Ames, 

R. A. Little, W. M. Haskell, 

J. L. Cunningham, S. B. Goodman, 

E. W. West, A. W. Sherman, 

Wm. H. Robbins, George F. Bayle, 

Sherman Williams, S. T. Birdsall, 

Samuel Pruyn, W- K. Bixby. 
J. A. Holden, 

At the annual meeting of this Association, held in August, 1905, J. A. 
Holden was selected to prepare a historical sketch concerning Half-Way 
Brook, which is herewith appended. 

For the Committee, 

SHERMAN WILLIAMS, Chairman. 

J. A. HOLDEN, Secretary. 



THE HALF-WAY BROOK IN HISTORY. 



By James Austin Holden, A. B. 



In choosing as its first subject for a mem'orial marker " The 
Half-Way Brook," the New York State Historical Association 
has made a dignified and wise selection, for it may be truly said 
tliat no stream in the Adirondack Wilderness is more noted in his- 
tory and the Annals of the Border, than this, whose appellation 
" Half-Way " comes from the fact Hiat it was nearly equidistant 
from Fort Edward on the south and Fort William Henry on the 
north. Rising in the branch of the Palmertown range known as 
the Luzerne Mountains, west of Glens Falls, running a crooked 
but generally easterly and northerly course, now expanding into 
small lakes or basins, now receiving the waters of numerous small 
tributaries, ponds and rivulets, it divides the town of Queensbury 
into two parts, passes the Kingsbury line, turns in a northerly di- 
rection, and empties into Wood Creek at a- point about three-quar- 
ters of a mile south from Battle Hill, at Fort Ann, in Washington 

Countv. 

In the days before American history began, the region traversed 
by this stream was a favorite hunting ground for the Red Man, 
and this water course, even to-day famous for. its speckled trout, 
was one of his chosen pleasuring places. 

For more than two hundred years the great deep-worn war- 
paths or traveling trails of the Indian Nations ran to and from its 
banks. And whether the fleet, moccasined warriors v/ent west- 
ward over the Sacandaga trail to the big bend of the Hudson and 
so on to the Iroquois strongholds, or whether they came to the 
'* Great Carrying Place," at what is now Fort Edward, through 
Fake Champlain and Wood Creek, or chose the trip through Lake 
St. Sacrament past the site of the future Glens Falls, down to 
Albany, or the west, all must cross this stream, which thus became 
as familiar to the Adirondack and Iroquois Confederacies, as the 



alphabet to us of to-day. This knowledge so gained was made 
ample use of in later times in many a bloody ambush, surprise or 
savage foray. After the defeat of Dieskau in 1755, and the build- 
ing of Fort William Henry at Lake George and Fort Edward at 
the " Great Carrying Place," the '' Half-Way Brook " became a 
point of strategic importance, and as a halting place and rendez- 
vous for the passing troops, and the convoys of supplies between 
the two forts, it was noted throughout the northern colonies, as 
long as the French and Indian war lasted. 

It was variously denominated by the military authorities dur- 
ing that time. On an old manuscript map without date in the 
New York State Library, it is noted as " Sc'hooiie Creek," while 
the Earl of Louden's map in 1757 has it marked as '' Fork's 
Creek." "" Rogers, the famous scout and ranger, called it " Bloody 
Brook." In Col. James Montresor's Journals, in 1757, it is styled 
"' Half-Way Run." On the Robert Harpur map, in the Secretary 
of State's office at Albany, it is called " Scoune Creek,"^ while 
Knox's Military Journal designated it as '' Seven Mile Creek," 
because it was seven miles from the head of the lake. In Wilson's 
Orderly Book of Amherst's Expedition, in 1759, it is laid down 
as " Shone Creek." ^ 

On a '' powder 'horn map " made by one Jobn Taylor of 
" Swago " in 1765, there is a block house clearly defined at " Helf 
Br " between Forts Edward and George.^ On later maps such as 
the Sauthier map, publis'hed about 1778, and reproduced in the 
Seventh Volume of the Governor Clinton Papers,* it bears the 

^ The name of " Fork Creek " was probably derived from the name given 
it by Major General Fitz John Winthrop, who headed an unsuccessful ex- 
pedition ag-ainst the Canadians and their Indian allies in the summer of 1690. 
On August 6th, he states that "he encamped at a branch of Wood Creek, 
called the fork." This is the place where the "Half- Way" enters Wood 
Creek near Fort Ann. Here, while his command was in camp, smallpox 
broke out, and a Lieut. Hubbell died from this disease and was buried at 
that spot. Our Secretary, R. O. Bascom, in his " Fort Edward Book," p. 15. 
states "this was the first recorded burial in the country." 

' Possibly a corruption of " Skene," from the foimder of Skenesborough. 

^ The New York World of February 2d, 1896, had a sketch of this powder 
liorn. which, at that time, was in the museum of Major Frank A. Betts, 
Washington, D. C. This rudely engraved map shows the various forts and 
settlements along the Mohawk and Hudson valleys, and depicts the trails 
to Lakes George and Champlain on the one side and to Lake Ontario on the 
other. 

* Letter Ho'n. Hugh Hastings, State Historian. 



popular name of " Half-Way Brook,'^ bestowed upon it we know 
not by whom nor when, but which appearing in contemporary di- 
aries, documents, letters and official despatches of " The Seven 
Years War," has ever since clung to it, and will while its waters 
run to the sea/ 

It will be remembered that in the Campaign of 1755, Sir Wil- 
liam Johnson had constructed a corduroy road from Fort Edward 
to Lake George, following substantially the present highway be- 
'tween the two points. :Cut through the dark and gloomy virgin 
forest, with its overhang of interlaced pine and evergreen boughs, 
its thickets of dense underbrush, the road led through swamps, 
over rivulets, over sandy knolls, and primal rocky hills to the head 
of the lake. On every side was leafy covert or rugged eminence, 
suitable for ambuscade or hiding-place of savage foe, or hardly 
less savage Canadian or French regular. Every rod of ground on 
this road is stained with the blood of the English, the Colonists, 
and their Indian allies, or that of their fierce, implacable enemies. 
Hardly a mile but what has its story of massacre, surprise, mur- 
der, deeds of daring and heroism, or of duty performed under 
horrible and heartrending circumstances. 

In order to protect the road, as ^vell as afford a resting place for 
soldiers and teamsters, and to supply a needed depot for military 
stores and provisions, the late Dr. A. W. Holden' in his History 
of Queensbury, says : '' At an early period in the French War, a 
block house and stockaded enclosure, in which were also several 
store houses, had been erected at the Half-Way Brook. The date 
of its construction would seem to have been in 1755, for in that 
year the French scouts and runners, reported to their chief that 
the English had erected posts every two leagues from the head 
of Lake George to Albany. It was situated on the north side of 
the brook, and to the west of the plank road leading to the head of 
Lake George. The old military road led across the brook about 
four rods above the present crossing. A part of the old abut- 



^C. Johnson's History of Washington County (pub. Pliila., 1878) states 
that the '' Half-Way Brook " was also known as " Clear River " — p. 301. 
The U. S. Geological Survey, in its map of this section of New York State, 
published about 1895, has labeled the brook as " Half-\Vay Creek," which, 
while it may be technically correct, will never be recognized in local usage 
or by faithful historians. 

"The Historian of the Town of Queensbury, N. Y. 

3 




MEMORIAL MARKER AT HALF-WAY BROOK, 
QUEENSBURY, N. Y. 



'1 



ments, timbers and causeway were visible up to the late seventies. 
It was capable of accommodating upwards of eight hundred men, 
and was protected by redoubts, rifle pits, earthworks, and a pali- 
sade of hewn timbers." 

The walls of the fort were pierced for cannon as well as for 
rifles, or muskets. In passing it may be said that from time to 
time, this, like all similar frontier forts of the time, was enlarged, 
strengthened, abandoned, destroyed, rebuilt, as the exigencies of 
military service made it necessary, but the site remained the same. 
This was near the rear, and to the westward of the brick residence 
now occupied by William H. Parker. Continuing Dr. Holden says : 

" During the summer of 1756, a force of six hundred Cana- 
dians and Indians attacked a baggage and provision train at the 
Half- Way Brook, while on its way from Fort Edward to the gar- 
rison at Fort William Henry. 

" The oxen were slaughtered, the convoy mostly killed and 
scalped, and the wagons plundered of their goods and stores. 
Heavily laden with booty, the marauding party commenced Its 
retreat towards South Bay on Lake Champlain. Embarking In 
batteaux they were proceeding leisurely down the lake when they 
were overtaken by a party of one hundred rangers under the com- 
mand of Captains Putnam and Rogers. These latter had with 
them two small pieces of artillery, and two blunderbusses, and at 
the narrows, about eight miles north of Whitehall, they crossed 
over from Lake George, and succeeded In sinking several of the 
enemy's boats, and killing several of the oarsmen. A h^avy south 
wind favored the escape of the remainder." ^ 

During this summer several bloody aflfrays took place between 
Fort Edward and Lake George, and the French accounts are full 
of successful raids and surprises. 

In 1757 Col. James Montresor' was sent to America as head 
of the Engineer corps of His Majesty's forces. He drew the 
plans for and constructed several fortifications In New York Prov- 
ince. In his journal under date of Monday, July 25th, he says: 
*' Set out from Ft. Edward at 6 o'clock in the morning and ar- 
rived In the afternoon. Stop't at the Half Way Run, ^agreed on 



^ Wm. Cutter's Life of Israel Putnam, p. 60; Dr. Asa Fitch in Trans N. 
Y. S. Agri. Socy, 1848, pp. 916-917; Spark's Am. Biog., Vol. 8, p. 119. 



a post there on the south side of the Run on the east of the Road 
about 50 Yards." Under date of Friday, July 29th, he wirites: 
" Set out for P'ort Wm. Henry at 12 o'clock with Gen'l Webb &c, 
arrived at the Half-Way at 3, met the carpenter going up that I 
had sent for, to carry on the work there." It does not appear, 
however, that anything was done with this fortification on account 
of Montcalm's victory a few weeks later. 

The Campaign of 1757 teemed with scenes of bloodshed along 
the frontier, and the history of the Fort Edward and Lake George 
trail abounds with sad tales of atrocity and savagery, culminating 
in the successful attack of Montcalm on Fort William Henry, and 
followed by the terrible massacre which, whether rightfully or 
wrongfully, tarnished forever the reputation of that noted and able 
commander. Of the few who escaped it is on record that Col. 
(afterwards General) Jacob Bayley of New Hampshire, ran the 
gauntlet and escaped by fleeing bare-footed for seven miles through 
the woods to the " Half-Way Brook." 

'•' Six days afterwards," Dr. Holden says, " Captain de Poul- 
haries of the Royal Rousillon regiment, with an escort of two hun- 
dred and fifty soldiers, accompanied the survivors of the massacre, 
upwards of four hundred, with the one piece of cannon, a six 
pounder, granted by the ninth article of capitulation, as a token 
of the Marquis de Montcalm's esteem for Lieutenant Co'lonel 
Monro and his garrison, on account of their honorable defense, to 
the post at the Half-Way Brook, where they met a like detach- 
ment from the garrison at Fort Edward, sent by General Webb 
to receive them." 

From records kept by officers and other documents, we learn 
that the '' Half-W^ay " ^ was usually designated through this war 
as the meeting place for white flag parties and exchange of pris- 
oners. 

After the fall of Fort William Henry, the northern outposts 
of the British were abandoned, and the frontier left open to the 
ravages and raids of the savages and the Canadians. 

March loth, 1758, Major Robert Rogers, the Ranger, with 



^ Col. Montresor, who served in America from 1757 until 1760, makes 
several allusions to the " Half-Way " in his Journals covering that period. 

' Jhis is the generally accepted local usage of the name. 

6 



about one hundred and eighty rangers, officers and privates, camped 
at the " Half-Way," the first considerable body of men to occupy 
it in the campaign of that year. From here he proceeded down 
Lake George, meeting with disaster and defeat at the hands of 
seven hundred of the enemy, three days afterward. 

June 8th, 1758, Lord Howe, the pride and idol of the army 
and his nation, a nobleman by birth and nature, took command of 
the forces, which for weeks had been gathering at Ford Edward. 
On June 20th we find him at the " Half-Way Brook " with three 
thousand men. It is supposed that this body of soldiers camped 
on what is still known as the " Garrison Grounds," situated on the 
south bank of the " Half-Way Brook," and about midway between 
the old Champlin place and DeLong's brickyard. A branch road 
led from the " Garrison Grounds " to the block house (back of 
the Parker residence) and crossed the brook a little way below 
the present highway bridge. This was the spot selected for a 
*' post " by Col. Montresor the year before, and partially laid out 
at that time. Here for two days Lord Howe remained, until he 
received reports from Major Rogers and his scouts of the disposi- 
tion of the enemy's forces. We can imagine him as usual engaged 
in the rough frontier sports of wrestling, jumping, shooting at a- 
mark, and the like ; instructing the regulars in ranger and New 
World tactics, and proving himself in every way the leading spirit 
and good genius of the camp. Here no doubt he met Stark, Put- 
nam and other Colonials who later were to be leaders in the war for 
liberty. On the 22nd this part of the army moved to the lake, and 
was shortly joined by General Abercrombie and the rest of the 
troops, making a grand army of fifteen thousand, which was soon 
to go to disaster and defeat before the rude earth breastworks and 
felled trees at Ticonderoga. iVbercrombie's defeat occurred July 
8th, 1758, and he quickly returned to the head of the lake and 
strongly entrenched his forces for the balance of the season. 

A number of diaries and journals of the New Englanders'" in 
the Campaign have been preserved and published, and from these, 
althoug-h brief and illiterate in form, we gain an excellent idea of 
the events of that period. The Colonial soldiery, looked down 
upon by the British officers, were fo/ced to perform the drudgery 
and manual labor necessary in l)uiKling and fortifying the camp, 

7 




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constructing its ditches and breastworks, and throwing up its de- 
fenses. Incidentally it may be said, it was the contemptuous treat- 
ment accorded the New England troops in this and succeeding 
campaigns, which made the people of that section so ready to throw 
off the British yoke later on. When not doing this work they 
were compelled to act as wagoners, drivers, carpenters, road mak- 
ers, and the like. These various diaries speak in many places of 
work of this menial character (for which these men had not en- 
listed, and apparently did not care for), at and about " Half -Way 
Brook." General Putnam in his Journal says, " During our stay 
at the lake, after our return from Ticonderoga, we were employed 
in almost everything." The Journal of an unknown Provincial 
Officer (see note), says, under date of July 15th, " Nothing worth 
notice this day but working and duty came on harder by orders from 
head-quarters." Both these journals mention a " Sunday off " from 
work as a great treat and a rarity. 

From the 25th of May until the 22nd of October, when the 
fortifications were dismantled and abandoned by General Aber- 
crombie at the head of the lake, Lieut. Thompson, according to 
his diary, was on constant dutv, either at the '' Half-Wav Brook " 
with a picquet guard, or at the lake. The daily life and work of 
the soldiers is given in his diary in detail. It also gives the names 
of a number of people who died from disease and were buried at 
the " Half- Way Brook." He describes the leturn of the English 
and Colonials from Ticonderoga, and under date of July 8th, be- 
ing at the head of the lake that day, there is the following entry 
in his book: 

" Saturday, Post came from the Narrows ; and they broug'ht 
Lord How to ye Fort, who was slain at their landing; and in ye 
afternoon there came in 100 and odd men, French prisoners into 
the Fort." These were Langy's men captured at the fatal Trout 
Brook skirmish. 

This testimony by an eye witness would go far to disprove the 

^^ Among these may be mentioned the Journals of Rufus Putnam, cousin 
of Israel Putnam, and afterwards a Revolutionary General; the " Diary of 
Lieut. Samuel Thompson, of Woburn, Mass." (for which I am indebted to 
Dr. Sherman Williams, of Glens Falls) ; the Journal of an Unknown Pro- 
vincial Officer in Col. Preble's Regiment of Massachusetts ; " The Mernoir.s 
pf John Stark," (ind *' I^ogers' Journals." 

9 



theory of recent times, that Lord Howe's remains had been discov- 
ered at Trout Brook ; and it tends to confirm -the statements of old- 
er historians, that his remains were probably taken to Albany for 
burial. 

On July 20th occurred one of the many skirmishes for which 
the '' Half-Way Brook " is noted. One of the several scouting- 
parties sent out by Montcalm to attack and harass the soldiers and 
convoys on the *' Lidius " (Fort Edward) road and to take scalps 
and provisions, made one of their usual hawk-like descents, falling 
upon Col. Nichol's regiment, then quartered at the '' Half-Way 
Brook " block house. Pouchet says, the detachment, five hundred 
in number, was made up of Canadians and Indians, commanded by 
M. de Courte-Manche, and that it succeeded in taking twenty-four 
scalps and making ten prisoners. Only the Indians' impatience 
prevented a complete massacre of the troops in the block house. 
Regarding this affray I quote the following in full from the Thomp- 
son Diary, as it gives the names of the officers and men killed in 
this skirmish. 

'* 20 — Thursday, in the morning, lo men in a scout waylaid by 
the Indians and shot at and larmed the Fort, and a number of our 
men went out to assist them, and the enemy followed our men down 
to our Fort, and in their retreat, Capt. Jones and Lieut. Godfrey 
were killed, and Capt. Lawrence and Capt. Dakin, and Lieut. Cur- 
tis and Ensn Davis, and two or three non-commissioned officers 
and privates, to the number of fourteen men, who were brought 
into the Fort, all scalped but Ensn Davis, who was killed within 
20 or 30 rods from the Fort; and there was one grave dug, and all 
of them were buried together, the officers by themselves at one 
end, and the rest at the other end of the grave; and Mr. Morrill 
made a prayer at the grave, and it was a solemn funeral ; and Nath 
Eaton died in the Fort and was buried ; and we kept a very strong 
guard that night of 100 men. Haggit (and) William Coggin 
wounded. 

A List of Men's Names that were killed in this fight : 

Capt. Ebenezer Jones of Washington (of diarist's company). 

Capt. (Samuell) Dakin of Sudbury. 

Lieut. Samuel Curtice of Ditto (Curtis). 

Private (William) Grout o^ do. 

Lieut. Simon Godfrey of Billenca (of diarists Company). 

10 



Capt. (Thomas) Lawrence of Groton. 

Corp. Gould of Groton Gore. 

Private Abel Satle (Sawtell) of Groton. 

Private Eleazer Eames of Groton. 

Do Stephen Foster Do. 

Serg. Oliver Wright, Westford. 

Private Simon Wheeler Do. 

Ensn. Davis of Metheun. 

Sergt. Russell of Concord. 

Private Abraham Harden (Harnden?) of Pembroke. 

Private Pay son, of Rowley. 

Private (Jonathan) Patterson, of Sudbury. 

We have also an account that there are seven of our men car- 
ried into Ticonderoga, which make up the number of those that 
were missing." 

" 21 — Friday, in ye afternoon, a party of about 150 went out 
to find more men that were missing, and we found 4 men who 
were scalped, and we buried them, and so returned ; and at prayer 
this evening we were laromed by a false outcry. Nicholas Brown 
died and was hurried ; and Moses Haggit died." 

This account thus corroborates in detail the French official dis- 
patches and Pouchet's description of the attack. 

Under date of Friday, July 28th, Lieut. Thompson, who that 
day had been down towards the Narrows, '' to peal bark for to 
make camp," returned to Lake George and says : '' In the evening 
there came news that the Indians had killed a number of teams and 
their guard below ye Halfway Brook, and there was a scout fitting 
to go after them." 

As this massacre to which the Thompson Diary so briefly re- 
fers, is probably the most important event which took place at the 
'' Half- Way Brook," we quote fully from Holden's History of 
Oueensbury, concerning it : 

" On Thursday the twenty-seventh of July, a detachment of 
four hundred men, consisting of Canadians and Indians, under the 
command of M. St. de Luc la Corne, a French-Colonial officer, 
attacked an English force of one hundred and fifty men consisting 
of teamsters and an escort of soldiers, while on their way from the 
station at the Half-Way P'rook, to the Camp at the head of the 
lake. The account here given is as nearly as can be remembered 
in the language of a Mr. Jones of Connecticut, who was a member 
of Putnam's company which arrived on the ground soon after the 
alTray took place. In the year 1822 he related the circiimstances 

u 



as here recorded, to the late Herman Peck of Glens Falls, while 
on a visit to Connecticut. It is from Mr. Peck that I obtained the 
narrative, which corresponds so completely with the French ver- 
sion of the affair that there can be no question whatever as to its 
general accuracy and reliability. 

" A baggage train of sixty carts, loaded with flour, pork, wine, 
rum, etc., each cart drawn by two to three yoke of oxen, accom- 
panied by an unusually large escort of troops, was despatched from 
Fort Edward to the head of Lake George to supply the troops of 
General Abercrombie, who lay encamped at that point. This 
party halted for the night at the stockade post at the Half-Way 
Brook. As they resumed their march in the morning, and before 
the escort had fairly cleared the picketed enclosure, they were sud- 
denly attacked by a large party of French and Indians which laid 
concealed in the thick bushes and reeds that bordered the stream, 
and lined the road on both sides, along the low lands between the 
block house and the Blind rock. 

" The night previously to this ambuscade and slaughter, Put- 
nam's Company of rangers having been to the lake to secure sup- 
plies, encamped at the flats near the southern spur of the French 
mountain. In the early morning they were aroused from their 
slumbers by the sound of heavy firing in a southerly direction, and 
rolling up their blankets they sprang to their arms and hastened 
rapidly forward to the scene of action, a distance of about four 
miles. They arrived only in time to find the slaughtered car- 
casses of some two hundred and fifty oxen, the mangled remains 
of the soldiers, women and teamsters, and the broken fragments 
of the two wheeled carts, which constituted in that primitive age 
the sole mode of inland transportation. 

" The provisions and stores had been plundered and destroyed. 
Among the supplies was a large number of boxes of chocolate 
which had been broken open and their contents strewed upon the 
ground, which dissolving in the fervid heat of the summer sun, 
mingled with the pools and rivulets of blood forming a sickening 
and revolting spectacle. The convoy had been ambushed and at- 
tacked immediately after leaving the protection of the stockade 
post, and the piassacre took place upon the flats, between the Half- 



\% 



Way Brook, and the Blind rock, or what is more commonly known 
at the present day as the Miller place. 

*' Putnam with his command, took the trail of the marauders, 
which soon became strewed with fragments of plunder dropped by 
the rapidly retreating savages, who succeeded in making their es- 
cape, with but little loss of life. The Provincials unable to catch 
up with the savages, returned immediately to the scene of the 
butchery, where they found a company from Fort Edward en- 
gaged in preparing a trench for the interment of the dead. 

" Over one hundred of the soldiers composing the escort were 
slain, many of whom were recognized as officers, from their uni- 
forms, consisting in part of red velvet breeches. The corpses of 
twelve females were mingled with the dead bodies of the soldiery. 
All the teamsters were supposed to have been killed. While the 
work of burial was going forward the rangers occupied themselves 
in searching the trails leading through the dense underbrush and 
tangled briars which covered the swampy plains. Several of the 
dead were by this means added to the already large number of the 
slain. On the side of one of these trails, the narrator of these 
events found the corpse of a woman which had been exposed to 
the most barbarous indignities and mutilations, and fastened in an 
upright position to a sapling which had been bent over for the 
purpose. All of the bodies had been scalped, and most of them 
mangled in a horrible manner. 

'' One of the oxen had no other injury, than to have one of its 
horns cut off. This they were obliged to kill. Another ox had 
been regularly scalped. This animal was afterwards driven to the 
lake, where it immediately became an object of sympathy and at- 
tention of the whole army. By careful attendance and nursing, the 
wound healed in the course of the season. In the fall the animal 
was driven down to the farm of Col. Schuyler, near Albany, and 
the following year was shipped to England as a curiosity. Far 
and wide it was known as ' the scalped ox.' The bodies of the 
dead were buried in a trench near the scene of the massacre, a few 
rods east of the picketed enclosure. 

" The French version of the affair, states the oxen were killed, 
the carts burned, the property pillaged ly the Indians, the barrels 
gi licjuor cle^tro^-ed, om bvmcired and ten scalps secured, arid eighty- 

18 



four prisoners taken ; of these twelve were women and girls. The 
escort which was defeated consisted of forty men commanded by 
a lieutenant who was taken. The remainder of the men who were 
killed or taken prisoners consisted of wagoners, sutlers, traders, 
women and children." 

The loss of this convoy was keenly felt by the English. Gen- 
eral Abercrombie lost some baggage and effects, and, according to 
the French reports, his music as well. He, as soon as possible, 
sent Rogers and his body of Rangers across country to try and 
intercept the marauders before they reached Lake Champlain. 
Rogers was too late to accomplish his purpose, and on his way 
back he fell into an ambush near Fort Ann, about a mile from 
''Clear River" (or the Half-Way), on August 8th, and was badly 
defeated, by M. Marin and his force of three hundred Regulars, 
Canadians and Indians. In this fight, Israel Putnam was taken 
prisoner, but was later released from captivity through the inter- 
cession of Col. Schuyler." 

This massacre was the cause of a permanent guard of about 
eight hundred men being stationed at the " Half-Way Brook," 
which is^ referred to in the Thompson Diary under date of August 
Tst, he bein^ one of the eighty out of Col. Nichol's regiment who 
were ordered on duty at that spot. And from that time until the 
close of the campaign late in the fall, the road between Lake George 
and the " Half-Way Brook," and Fort Edward and the same point, 
was constantly patrolled by detachments from the two forts, prac- 
tically putting an end to further assaults and surprises. 

The diaries of those days show that, as yet, the temperance 
idea half a century or so afterward to arise in this locality, had no 
place among the hard drinking, hard swearing, and hard fighting 
men of that period, as these extracts from the Thompson Journal 
prove : 

''August 28, Monday : Certified that Cape Breton was taken, and 
63 cannon shot at Fort Edward and small arms. In joy we made 

'^ For other and corroboratory original accounts of the attacks of July 
20th and 27th see French despatches in Col. Doc. N. Y., Vol. X, pp. 750, 816, 
817,849,850, and English reports in Watson's Essex, pp. 96, 97; Pouchot's 
Memoirs, Vol. i, p. 123; Rogers' Journals, p. 117; Putnam's Journals, pp. 72- 
y-^y-, Sewall's Woburn, Mass., pp. 550, 551, 552, 553; Dawson's Hist. Mag, 
Aug., 1871, pp. 117, ir8; Cutter's Putnam, pp. 96, 97; Stark's Memoirs, pp. 
26, 436. These accounts differ some in details but are alike ni essentials, 

14 



a great fire, and every soldier had a jill of Rum at the Half Way 
Brook; and it was a very rainy night. 

" August 29, Tuesday : 140 of us went and made a breastwork ; 
and WQ had a jill of rum; and we had a remarkable drink of flip 
this evening ; a very cold night. 

''Sept. 5, Tuesday: I on guard; and we earned half a jill of 
rum by making great many bonfires." 

This diary tells of one more attack, which seems to have escaped 
the notice of other historians, and is therefore inserted at this point. 
Llnder date of Sept. 9th, it says : 

" Saturday : the picquet guard went to meet the teams ; a Sar- 
geant and four men went forward to tell Half Wqv Brook guard 
that the picquet was coming ; and the Indians shot the Sergeant 
and scalped him before one man got to him ; and then the Indians 



ran awav." "' 



With the close of the Abercrombie Campaign, and the abandon- 
ment of headquarters at Lake George, Fort Edward became once 
more the northern outpost of Colonial civilization.^" 

In 1759, Sir Geoffrey Amherst was made Commander-in-Chief 
of the English forces in America. He was a brave, able, but per- 
haps over-conservative general, since after his easy victory ovei 
Montcalm's forces, he occupied himself more in fort building than 
in active operations of warfare, and in following up advantages 
gained. During this campaign the " Half-Way Brook " post was 
first occupied in March, 1759, by Rogers, the Ranger (with his 
scouting party of three hundred and fifty-eight men, including of- 
ficers), who was starting out to go down Lake George on the ice 
on one of his usual disastrous spying expeditions. In the month 
of May, troops and new levies were beginning to assemble at Al- 
bany, under General Amherst's supervision. While they were 



^' In passing we may say that Lieut. Thompson returned home safely, 
served at Concord and Lexington, and, his biographer says, finally "became 
one of the most useful men in the Town of Woburn." To him is attributed 
the discovery of the '' Baldwin Apple," and a monument commemorating this 
gift to mankind, has been erected to his memory, making applicable in pecu- 
liar fashion Milton's lines, " Peace hath her victories no less renowned than 



war." 



" General Abercrombie. according to documents in William L. Stone's 
possession, also spelled his name " Abercromby." Montresor^ spells it with 
a "y," but leading American historians use the termination " ie." 

15 



being drilled, detachments of the regular forces were being sent 
forward to Fort Edward. Meanwhile, Colonel James Montresor, 
Engineer-in-Chief, had been charged with the duty of drawing up 
plans for fortifications at Lake George, and along the line of march. 
Accordingly Major West, of his Majesty's troops, with laborers 
and mechanics, was sent forward to construct an intermediate post 
between Fort Edward and the lake. A site was chosen near the 
former '' Garrison Grounds," on the south bank of the " Half Way," 
and a few rods east of the old military road. A stockaded fortress 
was erected, surrounded on three of its sides by a ditch and coun- 
terscarp ; while the rear was protected by an imipassable swamp 
(now covered by the Brick Kiln Pond), which at that period ex- 
isted at that point. This fortification was given the name of Fort 
Amherst, in honor of the then Commander. 

Major West was placed in charge of the small garrison, and the 
post was equipped with artillery and the necessary supplies and 
ammunition. A number of huts, barracks and log structures were 
also built here at this time (whose sites were easily traceable in the 
early thirties), some of which were in existence at the beginning 
of the Revolutionary War, and were used by the pioneers of Queens- 
bury, as well as the American forces later on. 

Local tradition also has it that the block house on the opposite 
side of the brook, was then rebuilt, enlarged and strengthened. On 
some old maps Fort Amherst is laid down as on the site of the old 
block house, but this is incorrect. 

In passing the writer wishes to state that the committee in charge 
of the erection of the memorial tablets, have chosen to give the 
block house, back of the Parker residence, the name of " The Seven 
Mile Post," applied to it in Knox's Military Journal under date 
of June 28, 1759, and to the fort on the " brickyard road," now 
called Glenwood Avenue, the name of '' Fort Amherst." ■ The re- 
mains of the ditches on this road were in evidence up to the early 
seventies, but in building up and remaking the highway at that 
point, they were covered over and no vestiges of them now remain. 

General Rufus Putnam, ^at that time orderly sergeant, during 
the month of June, 1759, describes in his Journal the forwarding 
of the troops and supplies from Albany, as far as Fort Edward, 
\yhere he encamper] tmtil the jSth, when the reg;im^Pt with >yhi^h 



he was connected, was marched to the '' Half- Way Brook/' whefe 
they were occupied in making roads and keeping the highway se- 
cure for the passage of troops and suppUes. Under the dates of July 
1st and 4th he writes the following, which is an epitome of the events 
going on at that time : 

'' From the time that we came to this place till now, nothing re- 
markable ; but bateaux, cannon and all kinds of stores carrying up, 
forces marching daily to the Lake and duty exceeding hard." 

" The Artillery was carried from Fort Edward to Lake George 
and was guarded by Col. Willard's Regiment of the Massachu- 
setts. There was carried up 1062 barrels of powder. Col. Mont- 
gomery's Regiment marched up as a guard ir the Artillery." 

Towards the close of June the army, amounting to six thou- 
sand men, came up to the " Half- Way," and headed by Rogers' 
Rangers, marched northward, " formed in two columns," to the 
head of Lake George, where they pitched their camp, near the 
ground occupied by Abercrombie the year before. The captures 
of Forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point, late in July, and the sub- 
sequent surrender of Quebec, brought in a great degree, a peace, 
quiet and safety to the northern frontier to which it had long been 
a stranger.'* 

Some time between 1759 and 1762, at the period following the 
conquest of Canada, General Amherst granted a permit to one 
Geoffrey " Cooper," or Cowper, as his name is spelled in Colonel 
Montresor's Journal, to whom he was a sort of messenger or ser- 
vant, to occupy the small post at '' Half- Way Brook," between 
Fort Edward and Lake George, for the preservation of the bar- 
racks, etc., that had been erected there, and for the convenience 
of travelers. General Amherst, according to his despatches, 
deemed it unnecessarv after the reduction of Canada, to leave a 
garrison at that post. This Cowper was probably the first white 
inhabitant of the town of Queensbury. According to tradition, he 
was originally a seafaring man. He resided here several years, 
and, in the town records, his name appears as having been elected 
to the office of x\ssessor at the first town meeting held 1766. 

"According to the Montresor Journals, the " Half- Way Post Avas occu- 
pied by small detachments of guards as late as November, 1759, when the 
various northern outposts were abandoned as usual, and troops ^withdrawn 
for the winter." 

17 



Hardly had the sounds of warfare died away, than the pioneer's 
ax and saw were heard resounding among the yellow pines in this 
vicinity, as clearings were made and homesteads started. 

In September, 1759, James DeLancey, Governor of the Colony 
of New York, issued a proclamation calling attention to the avail- 
ability for settlers of " three Several Spotts of cleared Ground, 
two of them capable of containing half a dozen Families each and 
the other not less than twelve." These clearings were located on 
the site of the picket forts at Green's Bridge, where the Imperial 
Wall Paper Mill now stands, at the " Half- Way Brook," which 
was the largest one, and near the Half- Way House, French Moun- 
tain (site of old P'ort Williams). 

In response to this invitation to settle in the northern wilder- 
ness, on May 20, 1762, the Patent of Queensbury was granted 
to Daniel Prindle and others, consisting of a township of twenty- 
three thousand acres of land lying on the Hudson River and tak- 
ing in the three clearings heretofore mentioned. Part of this 
property was acquired by certain Quakers or Friends, living at 
the Oblong, in Dutchess County, New York. 

On August 28, 1762, Abraham Wing, the founder of the town 
of Queensbury, accompanied by a surveyor, Zaccheus Towner, 
made his first visit to the place which was thereafter to become 
the scene of his life work. He stopped at the '' Half-Way Brook " 
post with Jeffrey Cowper. At this time " The Town Plot," in 
the center of which the memorial marker now stands, was sur- 
veyed and laid out. This consisted of a plot of forty-four ten 
acre lots, six lots deep from north to south, and eight lots deep 
from east to west, forming an oblong square, intersected by cen- 
tral highways and necessary roads. The center lots being re- 
served for public buildings. Here, the village was to have been 
located, but it had been ordained otherwise. The settlement was 
made at " The Falls," and nothing but the name in legal papers now 
survives to show that this was once intended to be the center of local 
population. 

In 1763 the first attempt was made towards the permanent set- 
tlement of the Town of Queensbury ; later on the first rehgious 
structure in the town, the original Friends' church, was erected 
of logs on the lot standing on the southwesterly side of the " Half- 

18 



Way Brook/* on the Bay road, and here, also, was located the first 
burial place in Queensbury. iHere the founders and earliest set- 
tlers of the town were laid to rest, their place of sepulture being 
to-day unmarked and unknown. 

During the Revolution the name of the " Half- Way Brook " 
appears in the lime-light o-f history but a few times, although the 
buildings still standing there were doubtless used by the troops 
passing to and fro between Lake George and Fort Edward, till the 
time of the Burgoyne Campaign. There, too, was located a ford 
for watering horses and cattle, which was in use up to the present 
centurv. 

According to William L. Stone, the well-known historical 
writer and authority. General Burgoyne detached Baron Riedesel 
with three battalions to " John's Farm between Forts George and 
Edward," in order to keep open the roadway between the two 
places, and also to look after and progress the provisions, stores 
and supplies from Lake George to Fort Edward, preparatory to 
Burgoyne's advance south. In Baron Riedesel's Memoirs, he 
states that " in that place he was completely cut off from the army, 
so he entrenched himself in a strongly fortified camp so that he 
might be able to defend himself to the last man." 

The place of his encampment has been quite definitely fixed by 
Dr. Holden, Mr. Stone and the late Judge William Hay, one of 
the best of authorities on local matters, as having been on the site 
of the old " Half- Way " block house, heretofore spoken of, on the 
north of the brook and the fortified camp at the " Garrison 
Grounds " on the opposite or south side of the stream. Here they 
remained until the nth of September, when the camp was broken 
up and the march southward begun. 

After the seizure of Fort Edward by General Stark and his 
command, a fortified camp commanding the Lake George road 
was constructed by the Americans in the vicinity of Glens Falls, 
cutting off. the possibility of a retreat by Burgoyne to the north- 
ward. William L. Stone, in his " Burgoyne's Campaign," says : 
" This was located on the site of Fort Amherst." The Marquis 
de Chastelleux in his travels also speaks of this camp as follows : 
'' On leaving the valley and pursuing the road to Lake George is 
a tolerable military position which was occupied in the war before 

19 



last. It is a sort of an entrenched camp, adapted to abatis, guard- 
ing the passage from the woods and commanding the valleys." ^ 

Assuming that this was the spot in question, the '' Half-Way 
Brook " post was a factor in bringing on the surrender at Saratoga, 
for Burgoyne's Council of War, held Oct. 13, 1777, on being in- 
formed " that the enemy was entrenched at the fords of Fort Ed- 
ward and Hkewise occupied the strong position on the Pine Plains 
between Fort George and Fort Edward," decided a retreat was im- 
possible and an honorable capitulation should be considered. 

According to Art. JX of the Saratoga " Convention," " All Ca- 
nadians and persons connected with the Canadian Establishment," 
*' Independent Companies " (which included the Tories) and mis- 
cellaneous followers of the army were to be conducted by the short- 
est route to the first British post on Lake George, under the same 
conditions of surrender as the regular troops. Pursuant to this 
agreement, soon after the capitulation on the morning of October 
17th, the defeated Royalists, under escort of a guard of American 
soldiers, were marched to the " Half-Way Brook " on their way to 
Canada, and from there allowed to pursue their journey to their 
homes unmolested." 

During 1780, the old military road was infested with roving 
bands of Tories and Indians. The last massacre of which history 
has record occurred in June or July of this year, when a man by 
the name of Koon, from Kingsbury, and three laborers, on their 
way to Fort George, were found dead and scalped on the highway 
near the "Half-Way Brook."" 

In the fail of 1780, Major Christopher Carleton of the 29th 
Regiment, with about twelve hundred men, regulars, Tories and 
Indians, made his historic raid through Kingsbury and Queens- 
bury, capturing P'ort Ann on the loth of October, and Fort George 
on the following day. At this time, all the buildings and struc- 
tures in Kingsbury and Oueensbury, in the path of the raid, were 
destroyed by fire by the enemy, causing 1780 to go down in local 
annals as " the year of the great burning." 

In order to speedily reach Fort George, Major Carleton led 

" Stone's Burgoyne, pp. 92, 343, 344. 

^" Public Papers Gov. George Clinton, Vol. IX, pp. 421, 422. 

" liolden's Queensbury, p. 477. 

20 



J 



his forces from Kingsbury Street directly across country, through 
the then existing road'' entering tiie Lake George highway near 
the '' Half-Way Brook " post. Thus intimately connecting this 
spot once more with the stirring events of that time. 

Holden's History of Queensbury states that Ichabod Merritt, 
son-in-law of x\braham Wing, the founder, and father of Joseph, 
the first white child born in' this town, erected the first frame house 
in Queensbury, on one of the sections of the Town Plot, near the 
'* Plalf-Way Brook," which was burned at this time. 

Connected in a way with the history of the " Half-Way Brook," 
is the battle which took place at Fort Ann July 8, 1777, between 
the Americans under Colonel Long and the 9th British Regiment 
of Burgoyne's army. The scene of this affair is located only 
three-quarters of a mile from the point where the " Half-Way 
Brook " enters Wood Creek at Fort Ann village, and the semi-suc- 
cessful fight put up by Long's forces, was one of the first serious 
interferences which Burgoyne received in his plan of campaign.^^ 

After this period the name of the "Half-Way Brook" prac- 
tically disappears from the domain of national history and enters 
the field occupied by the local historian."' In August, 1783, while 

" See Gov. Tryon's Map Vol. , Doc. Hist. N. Y., also Holden's Hist: 
Queensbury, page 479. 

''One of the Trustees of this Association, E. J. West, informs me that 
in 1858 William Welles erected a marble monument on the south end of 
Battle Hill to commemorate this batUe. This was destroyed by an act of 
vandalism about 1870. Lately the Fort Ann "Grange" has set on foot a 
project to erect another monument in place of the former marker. It would 
seem to be proper and fitting for this Association to encourage and forward 
this movement in every possible way. 

'"Topographically, the "Half-Way Brook" in any State but New York, 
with its abundant streams and superior water power, would be entitled to 
and receive the name of river. Owing to its size and the large territory 
which it traverses, it was in the early days of the country, of great service 
commerciallv in building up this section of the State. Among the more im- 
portant of the older enterprises on its banks was Forbes and Johnson s Forge 
in 181 1, for making plough-share.s. situated on the Forge Pond, an expansion 
of the "Half- Wav," one and a half miles west of Glens Falls; Jeremiah 
Brio-o-s' Grist and Saw Mills, at what is now the Brickyard, frequented from 
far alid near, in the earlv part of the century; Champlm's Tannery near the 
south bank on the Lake George road, and various saw mills, a woolen mill, 
and other manufacturies which were scattered all along the course of the 
brook and its tributaries, viz., Rocky Brook, the Meadow Run, what was 
then called "the Outlet" to the "Big Pond" (now Glen Lake), etc. It was 
of even o-reater commercial importance in the towns of Kingsbury and i^ort 
Ann Washington Countv, than in Warren County. Here, sixty years ago, 
were located at Patten's Mills, grist and saw mills; at Tripoli, grist and saw 

21 



on a journey of inspection of the northern battlefields and fortifica- 
tions at Saratoga, Fort Edward, Lake George, Ticonderoga and 
Crown Point,^^ General Washington, accompanied by Governor Clin- 
ton, General Alexander Hamilton, Colonels Humphreys and Fish, 
halted for rest and refreshment at the '* Butler Brook," one of the 
branches of the " Half- Way," near the entrance to Crandall Park, 
and were waited on by one Briggs at w'ork in a neighboring field, 
who brought a cup and pail and supplied water from the brook to 
satisfy their thirst. Two other future Presidents of our country, 
Jefferson and Madison, likewise passed through the town in 1791 
to visit the many scenes of historic interest at the north. 

And so we leave this famous brook, connected with which are 
the names of many of those brave men who afterward became cele- 
brated in national fields of glory ; and bid adieu to the places made 
noted by the exploits of the two Putnams, Stark, Schuyler, Warner, 
Stevens, Waterbury, and a host of lesser military Colonial officers, 
whose experience, beginning on the shores of this inland stream, 
was to serve their country in good stead in the days which were 
to save our land from British thralldom. To-day, no longer red- 
dened by the life-blood of English and Colonial of French and 

mills, a carding machine and trip hammer for making anchors and sleigh 
shoes ; and at Kanes Falls, near Fort Ann, with a descent of seventy-five feet, 
saw and grist mills, a machine shop and carding machine. On the Podunk 
branch of the " Half -Way " was located Anchorville, where there was a saw 
mill, plaster mill, clover seed mill, some carding machines, a large tannery, 
three forges and anchor shops. In later times there was situated at Kanes 
Falls a silex mill, also a woolen mill. The abundant water power at this 
place has in these latter days, been made use of by the Kanes Falls Pulp 
Company, for the manufacture of that commodity. At the present time the 
principal business enterprises on the " Half-Way " in Warren County, are 
extensive brickyards, about a mile from the site of the old fort, three saw 
mills and two ci der mills. In Washington County at Patten's Mills, there 
is a grist mill, and at Griswold's Mills, a saw mill and a grist mill. On the 
" branch " at West Fort Ann, is located a planer and cider mills. Owing 
to its width and the overflow of its banks in spring and fall, it is necessary 
that the brook be spanned by substantial bridges. In both Warren and 
Washington Counties strong iron structures have replaced the old-fashioned 
wooden bridges, which were so common in road-making but a few years 
ago. In Washington County, there is a bridge about seventy feet long near 
Kanes Falls, and at Fort Ann one in the neighborhood of fifty feet long. 
(Acknowledgments are due to Geo. M. Mead, Glens Falls, for information 
contained in this note. See Trans. N. Y. S. Agri. Socy. 1849, p. 942, for 
further facts.) 

^^ W. L. Stone's Reminiscences of Saratoga, p. 14; Irving's Washington, 
Holly Ed., pp. 17, 18. 

22 



Indian, the " Half- Way " runs a clear and peaceful stream through 
copse and thicket, field and meadow, swamp and swale ; turning, 
as it goes, the wheels of industrial progress in many a village and 
hamlet, and doing its appointed work in the upbuilding of our 
national prosperity. At last, merged in the yellow waters of Wood 
Creek, it flows into the green depths of Lake Champlain, and then 
into the broad reaches of the St. Lawrence ; but before losing its 
identity in the surging waters of the North Atlantic, it laves the 
frowning cliffs of Quebec, thus forming a shimmering and living 
band, which unites for all time the valley of the Holy Lake and 
the Plains of Abraham ; those two eventful spots where the French 
dominion received its first check and final overthrow, thus placing, 
in the end, the North American Continent forever under the pro- 
gressive control of the Anglo-Saxon race. 



23 








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